FLASHING BEFORE MY EYES

I don't think of myself as a reckless person.

I wear my self-belt.

I take my vitamins

I look both ways before crossing the highway.

I even drive the speed limit. Really, I do - with a line of highly irritated drivers on my tail wherever I go.

But I do play around with horses a lot.

Even after having my head and left hand broken by 'em.

And tonight I almost had my life flash before my eyes.

I had a rope around my shoulder as I was taking a halter off of Najale when I suddenly realized Rue had grabbed part of this same rope in his mouth, and had it right in that handy spot where you normally put a bit in the horse's mouth.

Which meant that I could not simply pull it out of his mouth without Rue being willing to open his mouth - and since he is just a baby, he had no idea of what I needed him to do.

So he was backing up, confused about what was going on, still with the rope in his mouth. And the rope is suddenly tightening around my shoulder.

Now, Rue is just a baby, but he's a baby who weighs around 650 lbs.

So I got that rope off my shoulder faster than I thought humanly possible.

And then slowly and calmly convinced Rue that he needed to get the rope out of his mouth.

But I almost got caught in what could have been a very, very bad situation.

Wasn't quite a "my entire life flashed before my eyes," but I definitely saw the last two days.